The invention relates to a skin closure clip. More particularly, the invention relates to a device for use in joining two sections of skin surrounding a wound or incision to allow proper healing.
When lacerations and incisions of the skin layer occur in wounds, surgical operations and the like, it has been the practice to stitch the separated portions of the skin together for the purpose of reducing scar formation and to accelerate healing. Such stitching operation constitutes a surgical operation wherein the separated sections of the skin are brought together and then stitched by needle and thread to hold the separated sections together until the wound has healed. When sufficient time has elapsed, such as three to six days, the stitches are removed by pulling the stitches from the wound after the thread has been severed.
This stitching operation constitutes a painful procedure which lasts over a considerable period of time. In addition, it requires the services of both hands of one or more physicians to hold the separated sections of the skin together, thread the needle, pass the needle through the adjacent edge sections of the skin layer, tie the thread with the desired tension to close the wound, and then to sever the loose ends of the thread when the stitch has been completed, all of which takes considerable time coupled with the interference of the bleeding wound.
The art has turned more recently to the use of metal clips which are applied by clip applicators which operate more or less in the fashion of a stapler to clip the free edges of the skin in a manner to hold the edges together until the wound has healed. The use of clips and clip applicators has materially reduced the time required to close a wound and has been effective to reduce the amount of effort and the amount of assistance required to effect skin closure. U.S. Pat. No. 4,399,810 to Samuels et al. discloses a skin clip that requires the use of a large stapler-like device to apply the clip.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,586,002 to Wood discloses a metal surgical skin clip.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,815,466 to Perlin discloses a surgical clip for temporarily occluding a blood vessel during surgery.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,234,449 to Bruker et al., discloses a surgical clip having a hinge, that is best suited for use after endoscopic surgery.
While these units may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present invention as disclosed hereafter.